After more than a year of rumor and suspicion, former Gladstone Police
Sgt. Lynn Benton was taken into custody today on accusations of
aggravated murder in the violent death of his estranged spouse.

A Clackamas County judge issued an arrest warrant Friday and members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task force and investigators from the Oregon City Police Department and Oregon State Police arrested Benton today in Portland, according to Oregon City police.

The Gladstone police sergeant then known as Lynne Benton joins Jesse Freeby (center) and his wife, Rose, in celebrating their newly remodeled home in 2004. Freeby was paralyzed while helping Benton chase a criminal suspect earlier that year. The Oregonian/2004

The arrest was a long time coming because prosecutors first had to secure the testimony of Benton's alleged co-conspirator, Susan Ellen Campbell, who initially implicated Benton and then stopped cooperating with authorities.

Benton will be arraigned Thursday and charged with aggravated murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty. Benton is likely to face additional charges.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Greg Horner declined to provide details about the case against Benton.

Benton's attorney, Patrick Birmingham, could not be reached for comment.

Susan Campbell The Oregonian

From cop to alleged killer

Lynn Edward Benton began his law-enforcement career as a female jail deputy and ended it as a man disgraced by lies, misconduct and suspicion.

1980: Graduates from Richland High School in Washington state

1984: Earns an associate's degree from Chemeketa Community College, focusing on health professions

1987: Begins law enforcement career as a Multnomah County corrections deputy

1988: Joins Gladstone Police Department as a police officer, then works briefly for the Beaverton Police Department

1990: Returns to Gladstone and is promoted twice over the next five years, to detective and sergeant, an important supervisory position in a police department without lieutenants or captains

1993: Marries Jose M. Zonis of Brazil, an arrangement later described as a fraudulent action taken solely so the man could qualify for U.S. citizenship

1995: Earns a bachelor's degree in business administration and communications from Concordia College

May 28, 2011: Higbee Benton found dead in her Gladstone beauty salon; autopsy shows she was shot, beaten and strangled, suffering a gunshot wound, a dozen broken ribs, a lacerated liver and a fractured thorax.

June 4: Police raid home of Karen Benton, where Lynn Benton was living with his sister, seizing bags of material and impounding a vehicle

Dec. 15, 2011: Benton implicated in wife's death.

Dec. 21, 2011: Benton fired for unrelated but potentially criminal misconduct, including the possession and viewing of pornography on a police-issued laptop computer.

Deborah Higbee Benton, 54, was found dead May 28, 2011, in her Gladstone beauty salon, the victim of beating, strangulation and a gunshot wound in the back. Six days later, police arrested Campbell, 54, who was accused of participating in a murder-for-hire plot to kill the woman.

Campbell was arrested and charged with aggravated murder in June 2011.

Campbell will enter a guilty plea on Friday morning, according to the Clackamas County court schedule. Campbell would not be sentenced until after she testifies in the Benton trial and the case against Benton is resolved.

"She is cooperating," said Daniel Woram, Campbell's attorney.

Horner would not provide details about the plea agreement. The terms should be disclosed Friday.

Investigators did not say who else might be involved, and suspicion immediately fell to Benton, 50, whose relationship with Higbee Benton grew increasingly strained as the police sergeant went through female-to-male gender reassignment. A month before his wife's death, Benton moved out of the couple's Gladstone home.

Benton was also a close friend of Campbell, who provided in-home care to Benton's mother.

As the investigation continued, Benton remained on the police force, on paid administrative leave. In June, he hired Pat Birmingham, one of Oregon's top criminal defense attorneys. In December, the whispers of suspicion grew into public allegations.

Oregon City Police Detective Brad Edwards testified that Campbell told investigators Benton had offered her $2,000 to kill or find someone to kill Higbee Benton. Prosecutors contend that Campbell agreed to kill Higbee Benton, went to her salon and shot her in the back with a .25 caliber handgun.

But the hit didn't go as planned.

When Higbee Benton didn't die from the gunshot, Campbell called Benton, Edwards testified, based on statements Campbell made shortly after her arrest.

Asked whether Benton had physically participated in the death, Edwards said it was "still an ongoing investigation."

Investigators had several reasons to suspect Benton.

In interviews after his wife's death, Benton admitted physically abusing Higbee Benton, once pressing his forearm to her throat and pinning her against the wall, Edwards said, and expressed concern that he would be fired if the abuse was reported to Gladstone police.

Benton and Campbell kept in regular cell phone contact before and after Higbee Benton's death, investigators said, and June 1 were photographed meeting in a restaurant parking lot near Clackamas Town Center.

But after making her initial statements, Campbell stopped cooperating with authorities. Campbell's actions stalled the investigation, because unless Campbell was willing to testify against Benton, prosecutors couldn't use her statements in court. Then last summer, the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office and Campbell's attorney started discussing a plea deal, under supervision of Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Eric J. Bergstrom.

Campbell's attorney said today that his client is cooperating with the investigation.

Benton remained on the Gladstone payroll for several months after his wife's death, collecting $6,357 a month, but was fired late last year.

Gladstone City Administrator Pete Boyce terminated Benton over unrelated criminal misconduct allegations, including a fraudulent marriage in 1993. Benton, then a female, married a Brazilian man so he could qualify for U.S. citizenship. Investigators also found pornography on Benton's police-issued laptop computer.

The public disclosures were painful in law enforcement circles, especially in Gladstone. Benton worked for the Gladstone Police Department for 24 years and maintained a relatively high profile, serving for the past six years as the department's public information officer. Duties included working with news reporters and serving as the department's public face at community events.

After leaving the police force, Benton, who had presented himself professionally as a woman, changed his appearance to male and began to grow a beard.

He went to trucking school and in September obtained a commercial driver's license. His latest address was Troutdale, according to public records.